The only event of its kind
By H. Kishie Singh
ITS happening after ten years! A Raid! in motorsport language it means a long distance rally, where most of the route would be off road. Himalayan Motorsport, a newly formed club, is organising the event which is the brainchild of Vijay Parmer, Atul Handa and Manjeev Bhalla.

Football faces tricky problems
By Ramu Sharma
WHATEVER is happening to the All-India Football Federation? Considered one of the better administered units with tremendous political clout, the AIFF appears to be slipping up badly. It seems to have lost its way, unable to find sponsors for major tournaments and allowing important national events in the calendar unattended.

• Sport Mail

Walsh joins elite club
By S. Pervez Qaiser

WEST Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh became the 15th player in the history of one-day internationals to appear in 200 or more matches. The first match of three-match BMC Cup against Pakistan at Toronto on September 16,1999, was his 200th match in limited overs internationals.

Walsh, who made his international debut against Sri Lanka at Hobart on January 10, 1985, took 14 years and 249 days to reach this milestone.

The first player to complete the double century of appearances in one-day internationals was Australian Allan Border. Border, who made his debut against England at Sydney on January 13, 1979, achieved this distinction against Pakistan at the same venue on February 20, 1990.

West Indian Desmond Haynes was the second player to play 200 or more one-day international matches. Haynes who made his international debut against Australia at St John’s, Antigua, on February 22, 1978, played his 200th match 14 years and 26 days later against the same country at Melbourne on March 18, 1992.

After Desmond Haynes, Pakistan’s Javed Miandad became the third member of this elite club. Javed Miandad, who made his international debut against the West Indies at Birmingham on June 11, 1975, in the first World Cup, played his 200th match against the same team at Adelaide on December 12, 1992. He took 17 years and 185 days, the longest time, to achieve this distinction.

The first genuine allrounder to complete the double century of appearances in one-day internationals was India’s Kapil Dev. Kapil Dev, who made his international debut against Pakistan at Quetta on October 1, 1978, played his 200th match against England at Bangalore on February 26, 1993. Kapil Dev was the first Indian to enter this elite club.

Pakistan’s Salim Malik was the fifth player to play 200 or more one-day internationals. Salim Malik who made his international debut against the West Indies at Sydney on January 12, 1982, played his 200th match against Sri Lanka at Durban on December 2, 1994. He required six stitches in his shin after colliding with his brother-in-law Ijaz Ahmed in this match.

The sixth player to enter this elite club of 200 matches was West Indian Richie Richardson. Richardson who made his international debut against India at Gawahati on December 17, 1983, played his 200th match against England at St Vincent on March 2, 1994. He celebrated his 200th appearance by scoring fifty of 25 balls which equalled the West Indian record of fastest fifty in one-dayers held by Vivian Richards.

Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin who holds the record of playing the highest number of one-day internationals was the seventh player to appear in 200th one-day international matches. Azharuddin who made his international debut against England at Bangalore on January 20, 1985, played his 200th match against New Zealand at Bombay on November 29, 1995.

The second genuine allrounder to enter this elite club was Pakistan’s Wasim Akram. He was the eighth player to play 200 or more matches in instant cricket. Akram who made his international debut against New Zealand at Faisalabad on November 23, 1984, played his 200th match against England at Birmingham on August 31, 1996.

At Colombo on September 7, 1996 against Sri Lanka, Steve Waugh became the second Australian and ninth player in the world to play 200 or more matches. Steve Waugh made his international debut against New Zealand at Melbourne on January 9, 1986.

Arjuna Ranatunga was the first Sri Lankan player and 10th in the history of instant cricket to play 200 or more matches. Ranatunga who made his international debut against England at Colombo on February 14, 1982, played his 200th match against Pakistan at Sharjah on November 12, 1996.

The eleventh player to enter this elite club was Sri Lanka Arvinda De Silva who made his international debut against New Zealand at Moratuwa on March 31, 1984, played his 200th match against Zimbabwe at Sharjah on April 3, 1997.

Pakistan’s Ijaz Ahmed was the 12th player to play 200 or more matches. Ijaz Ahmed who made his international debut against the West Indies at Sialkot on November 14, 1986, played his 200th match against Sri Lanka at Paarl on April 9, 1998. After Javed Miandad, Salim Malik and Wasim Akram he was the fourth Pakistani to join the elite club.

India’s Sachin Tendulkar was the 13th player to appear in 200 or more one-day international matches. The third and final one-day international between India and Zimbabwe at Harare on September 30 was Sachin’s 200th match in instant cricket.

At 25 years and 153 days, Sachin was the youngest player to attain this distinction. Tendulkar who made his international debut against Pakistan at Gujaranwala on December 18, 1989, took eight years and 286 days, the shortest time, to complete the double century of one-day international matches.

Before Courtney Walsh Sri Lanka’s Roshan Mahanama was the last player to appear in 200 or more matches in one dayers.

Roshan Mahanama who made his international debut against Pakistan at Kandy on March 2, 1986, took 12 years and 252 days to complete the double century of appearances. The fourth match of the Coca Cola Trophy between Sri Lanka and India at Sharjah on November 9, 1998, was his 200th match in limited overs internationals.

The only event of its kind
By H. Kishie Singh

ITS happening after ten years! A Raid! in motorsport language it means a long distance rally, where most of the route would be off road.

Himalayan Motorsport, a newly formed club, is organising the event which is the brainchild of Vijay Parmer, Atul Handa and Manjeev Bhalla.

Vijay Parmar is the driving force behind Himalyan Motorsport and Vijay has been involved with rallying since 1985. That year he was a marshall with the Himalayan Rally, Nazir Hoosein’s event, and from where all good motoring ideas flow.

By 1987 Vijay was a biker and in 1988 during the Great Desert-Himalaya (another Nazir Hoosein event) he got his first taste of a Raid.

The Great Desert Himalaya was 6000 km and 10 days long. Through Rajasthan’s desert and palaces to Shimla, Manali, Leh to terminate in Srinagar.

In that event Vijay drove a Swaraj-Mazda truck. Unfortunately , he rolled near Kargil on the last day’s drive. That was the first time I met Vijay. The Swaraj-Mazda had rolled three times and lay on its side down the hill. The windscreen lay about 20 metres away in one piece. It had just popped out. This made for an easy exit for Vijay and his crew. Vijay stood looking at what he had been driving and Dhar, from Swaraj-Mazda, was sitting on the ground. He was quite shaken up. I saw all this as I was one of the first to arrive on the scene of the accident. Later, I carried Dhar to Kargil and left him at the medical centre.

For the 1989 Great Desert- Himalaya (G.D-H) Vijay was on a bike. Again through the torturous, demanding, scorching sands of Rajasthan. The event terminated in Manali.

In the 1989 event, Vijay participated as a member of Team Thunderbolt on a Kawasaki.

Team Thunderbolt, it should be remembered, has produced such names in motorsport as Hari Singh, Amarinder Sandhu, Rohitaz Kumar, to name a few national champions.

This taste for long-distance cross country driving was whetted by memories over the years.

This year the time was ripe and Vijay with Atul and Manjeev prompted and supported by the Government of Himachal grabbed the opportunity and in record time have organised the Raid de Himalaya. It has all the ingredients, drama, danger, romance, thrills and spills to promise a true motoring adventure.

“We want to promote this sport. Rallying today is in the hands (pockets?) of factory teams. This leaves no scope for the privateer or first timer. Factory teams have all the advantages.

“Our event, with long competitive stages is demanding of skill of driving or riding. You can’t afford to break your machine. Its driver skill, not repair skill! This is an adventure!”

“Since teams dominate the rally scene there has been no fresh talent inducted into the sport. Interest died down, events died out!

“We want to find talent, promote it and in our third year we will have international participation.

“We are also offering the best prizes in the country, twice that of a national event. First cash prize for cars is Rs. 75,000 and for mo’-bikes Rs. 50,000.”

“Siti Cable, one of the sponsors, is making a 30-minute capsule. Our event will be seen on the local channel. It could be the first time in 10 years you will see an Indian event on television. The national championship has nine events in a year and not one is televised.”

Vijay is disappointed at the low turnout of entries from Chandigarh. “Chandigarh has a great motorsport culture, but we got very few entries from Chandigarh.”

(Hari Singh in four wheelers and Amarinder Sandhu in the two wheelers section, both from Chandigarh, have been the national champions the last few years.)

G.P.S. (Global Positioning System) co-ordinates are being used as navigational aids for the first time in India. Himalayan Motorsport are quite proud of this “first time” and quite rightly so. Like Halda Trip Masters (Mechanical) made way for Terra-Trips (Electronic) the GPS may be the way of the new century. It will be of great assistance in Leh, which is a desert and has no landmarks.

The Raid de Himalaya is the only event of its kind in Asia. It is 1300-km-long and demands four days of driving. Informatively, Maruti Udyog is the main sponsor of this event. In a major change of strategy, MUL has sponsored its first serious motorsport event.

Since 1995 Vijay has been an FMSCI scrutiniser. He runs a Mass operation in Shimla, has been playing golf since the age of eight. Currently he is Secretary of the H.P. Golf Association. He is also an avid skier and goes to Auli every winter. Very sad that a Himachali has to go to U.P. to ski!

“Come for a great adventure, fun and a holiday!” says Vijay Parmar.

Football faces tricky problems
By Ramu Sharma

WHATEVER is happening to the All-India Football Federation? Considered one of the better administered units with tremendous political clout, the AIFF appears to be slipping up badly. It seems to have lost its way, unable to find sponsors for major tournaments and allowing important national events in the calendar unattended. And more importantly it has failed to curb the spread of unsporting behaviour. But whatever be the standard, football in India was the most popular sport with public support keeping the game alive in Calcutta and Kerala and sponsorship from tobacco companies giving new lease to the game elsewhere. That of course came later but there was a time when India had won the right to be rated as the best football playing country in Asia with titles in two Asian Games to add to a semi-final show-down in the Olympics in the 50s.

There was not much money in the earlier days but the players appeared to be more motivated and certainly, some of them, could have been rated good enough to wear the colours of some of the best teams outside of the country. But from 1976 or around that time there was a sudden slump in the standard. It was surprising, this fall in the standards since the teams were getting much more exposure with the DCM Football Tournament in particular setting the example by inviting foreign teams to take part in its annual offering.

Other tournaments followed suit and with the Nehru Gold Cup and the Rajiv Gandhi Tournament Indian football should have improved. Unfortunately the reverse happened. The Nehru Gold Cup in fact only managed to expose the poor quality of the game projected by the players and India suffered in comparison with the rest of the participants. In fact this tournament only highlighted the vast difference in the standard of the game between India and the rest of the world.

The public, however, did not let the player down. Whatever the standard of the game, the stands in Calcutta, particularly in matches involving the top three teams, were always full. And Kerala, irrespective of which centre hosted the tournaments provided crowds in plenty. All paying money to see whatever the quality of football on view. But the player response to the crowds enthusiasm has been very poor.

The induction of foreign players did bring about changes in the overall quality of the game but unfortunately it did not help project many Indian players. The imports generally dominated the game and some of them became household names. It must, however, be admitted that the All-India Football Federation overlooked one simple fact while opening the doors to players from other countries. There was no parameters set to judge the quality of the player imported by the clubs and what is more there was no attempt to convert them to the “Indian way of thinking”.

Most of the imports were physically sturdier and much tougher than the Indian players and indulged freely in body play, something which the referees in India were not able to really understand or check. And frankly the idea of allowing foreign players did not really have the desire effect. One would have thought that Indian players would draw inspiration from these outsiders and learn and improve their own game. That did not and has not happened.

What has happened is that Indian football clubs have become a source of earning a livelihood for foreign players. That in itself would not have mattered much if their induction was not often at the cost of some talented Indian footballer. The result of all these inputs from outside has really not benefited Indian football.

Some of the clubs have, however, gained considerably and a few weaker ones have managed to augment their strength with the import of foreign players to be able to stay in the senior national league. But their performance tends to give a false picture and do not necessarily help improve the standard of the game of the Indians in the team. The Federation has of course tried to place a limit on the number of players of foreign origin in the team but that has really not helped.

Sport Mail

Joshi’s performance praiseworthy

CONGRATULATIONS to 30-year-old left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi as his career-best figures of 10-6-6-5 sent South Africa crashing for 117 in 48 overs in the four-nation one-day LG Cup. India recorded their first win over South Africa after six straight losses. Sunil’s excellent performance (five wickets for six runs) stood only next to leg-spinner Anil Kumble’s feat of six for 12 against the West Indies in 1993. Sunil Joshi’s spell provided the backbone to India’s comprehensive win over South Africa.

SUSHANT KATARIA
Chandigarh

II

India commenced their campaign in the four-nation Cricket Tournament at Nairobi with a bang. Demonstrating their awesome bowling and batting prowess, rarely seen before, they drubbed South Africa, the title contenders, by eight-wickets. Led by skipper Ajay Jadeja, known for his dynamism, knack and agility, India started tightening the noose around the neck of the Proteas right from the first ball. It was Joshi who, bowling in tandem with Chopra, broke the backbone of South Africa’s batting by claiming five scalps for just 16 runs, an amazing performance indeed. Chopra accounted for three as South Africa were eventually skittled out for a paltry 117. India began their run chase in a whirl-wind fashion as Romesh and Ganguly plundered runs in a breathless hurry. Theirs was an explosive start because of which India’s score stood at 82 at the end of the 12th over. India lost just two wickets to wrap up the match. Their resounding win will give them tremendous confidence.

TARSEM S. BUMRAH
Batala

Arati Gupta

It is really encouraging to learn that the department of Posts has planned to immortalise the legendary swimmer, the late Arati Gupta (Saha), the first Asian woman to cross the English Channel by releasing a commemorative postage stamp on her. I would also suggest that that government should also rename towns or cities after sportspersons. This will go a long way in encouraging sportspersons.

VIJAY SHEEL JAIN
Ludhiana

Kapil’s appointment

It was a long awaited step which the new BCCI chief has taken in appointing Kapil Dev as Coach of the Indian cricket team. He can infuse a new lease of life into the squad. Let us hope that with changes in the BCCI a new era in Indian cricket will begin.

Y. L. CHOPRA
Bathinda

Akram’s recall

With the recall of Wasim Akram, as Pakistan’s captain the selectors have done a wonderful job as he led Pakistan to another glorious victory by making a clean sweep in the DMC Cup in Toronto. Despite the match fixing allegations Pakistan played as a single unit and showed that they were among the best teams in the world. Besides, the team has found another fine bowler in Shabbir Khan also known as the Sahiwal Express. He bowled superbly during the third one day international. Pakistan have found a new coach in Wasim Raja who is very inspiring.

NITIN GARG
Chandigarh